Computer implemented planning and scheduling systems are increasingly being used in factories and other enterprises. Such systems model the enterprise environment and provide schedules for producing items to fulfill consumer demand within the constraints of the environment.
Typically, planning and scheduling problems can be represented as a constrained optimization problem. For example, consider the problem of sequencing a set of tasks on a single resource in a manufacturing environment. Assume each task has a deadline and that the objective is to schedule each task so that it is completed by its deadline. One way to view this problem is as a search in a space of start times. Under this view, the problem is a constrained optimization problem in which the variables are the start times, the constraint is that no tasks can overlap, and the objective is not missing deadlines.
One enterprise activity whose scheduling and planning problems have not been adequately addressed by computer-implemented methods is new product development. Companies rely on new product development to achieve strategic positioning or increase revenue growth. This places an emphasis on optimizing the enterprise's product portfolio, that is, the selection of what products to make and the associated resource scheduling.
Many existing techniques and tools that have been developed for other types of enterprise management can be applied to portfolio planning. For example, a supply chain management system is available from i2 Technologies, Inc. of Irving, Tex. Many of the modeling structures and processes used for supply chain management can be applied to product development management. However, unique problems that arise in portfolio planning give rise to a need for a model especially formulated for product development.